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Who's Who - Mikhail Alexeev

General Mikhail Alexeev
(1857-1918) served as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army for two months
during World War One.

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Born on 15 November 1857 in
Tver the son of a private soldier Alexeev entered the army in 1876,
graduating from Staff College in 1890. He progressed through the army
until, in 1904, he was finally promoted General.

With the declaration of war
in August 1914 Alexeev was appointed Chief of Staff to the Russian
southwestern army group in Galicia, working alongside
Ivanov.

The following March Alexeev
was given command of the northwestern army group. In spite of his
former working relationship with Ivanov he nevertheless declined to despatch
forces to reinforce Ivanov's offensive in the Carpathians; he also held back
the provision of reserves intended to meet the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive.

Fortunately Alexeev managed
to avoid any share of the blame once news of Ivanov's difficulties reached
Stavka. Instead he was appointed Chief of Staff at Stavka with the
Tsar's decision to
take personal command of the army in September 1915.

Eminently more suited to
his role than his incompetent predecessor
Yanushkevich, Alexeev -
effectively Commander-in-Chief despite the Tsar's nominal command - worked
with a degree of success to establish a form of central control over
military operations in the Eastern Front, in spite of an appalling
communication system and a skeleton staff.

Alexeev was also
responsible for planning the Galician campaign that almost succeeded in
knocking Austria-Hungary out of the war. However his contribution to
the successful Brusilov Offensive was generally passive, although he was
able to share in at least some of the credit along with
Alexei Brusilov.

Reluctant to send
reinforcements to Romania (whose entry into the war as an ally was widely considered a
nuisance by the Russians), he only did so once it became apparent that
Russia's own borders were at risk.

Alexeev suffered a heart
attack in November 1916, forcing him to enter temporary retirement.
Returning to his command just in time for the February Revolution of 1917
Alexeev oversaw Nicholas II's reluctant decision to
abdicate. In the
Tsar's stead he acted as Commander-in-Chief for two months before his
opposition to the Kerenski Offensive brought his effective dismissal in May.

Recalled to his post in
September 1917 he promptly resigned twelve days later, again in protest at
policy.

Alexeev was a notable
figure in the anti-Bolshevik White movement until his death from a heart
attack on 8 October 1917 at the age of 60.

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